


Audubon International Motorsport Academy (AIMA)

by Macaroni_N_Chill



Category: AIMA - Fandom, Audubon International Motorsport Academy
Genre: Academy, Action, Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Boarding School, Alternate Universe - Car Racing, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - School, Angst and Humor, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Automotive, Canon - Manga, Cars, Competition, Fast Cars, Gen, HYPE, Humor, Manga & Anime, Motorsports, Multi, Original Fiction, Original Universe, Other, Plot, Racing, School, Shounen, Slice of Life, Sports, Tournaments
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-08
Updated: 2018-09-27
Packaged: 2019-05-19 13:46:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 19,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14874881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Macaroni_N_Chill/pseuds/Macaroni_N_Chill
Summary: Motorsport is king. Motorsport is all.Professions in driving, engineering, and managing for race teams are the most lucrative careers. Those who endure the fierce competition and reach the top are regarded with fame and renown like celebrities, influence and wealth like royalty.Young Finnish driver Anni Heikkinen dreams of earning a spot among the chosen few. As a second-year student at Audubon International Motorsports Academy, the premier academy for rising talent, she takes the first strides toward her goal. Will she and her team have what it takes to survive?





	1. Preseason Anticipation

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! This is intended as a rough draft/outline for a manga I'm writing and drawing. My intentions are to write a few chapters and revise w/ feedback before committing to ink on page. so please please please lend em you thoughts, both good and bad. I wanna hear what y'all think!
> 
> Also, due to the format of just being a written draft for a visual work theres some inherent inconsistency in style. 
> 
> Thank you! Hope you enjoy

A closeup of a straight section of road with a thin layer of leaves in the foreground and background out of focus. A small black bird stands on the left side of the road pecking at the leaves. A rumble approaches in the distance, catching the bird’s attention. A closeup of the bird’s face head-on, the sound of a roaring engine grows stronger in the frame. An extreme closeup of the exhaust outlet of a sleek and beautiful endurance racecar (2009 Lola Aston Martin B09/60 LMP1), a lick of fire shoots from the port with a POP and WHAM. 

The bird takes flight as a dramatic silhouette against white background, soaring up into the pure white sky away from the ground and the viewer, the angle of view is as if standing on laying down on the track surface looking up. Tops of the trees are visible at the periphery of the frame and the bird only takes up a minor portion of the frame to the upper left. 

Cut to a shot of the landscape from above, as if from the bird’s point of view in the sky. Nurburg, Germany, the 2009 24 hours of Nurburgring, FiA World Endurance Championship. The weather is clear and sunny with a few marshmallow-like wisps of clouds high up in the sky. We see the track twist like a serpent through the terrain and lush greenery. Dramatic shadows cast from the barriers and trees in the strong afternoon light. A string of LMP1 cars weave through the course, barely specks in the overall scale of the landscape. A closer, ground level shot of the string of cars viewing from the front. The lead car is the B09/60 followed by another aggressive looking endurance car (Peugeot 908 HDi) a couple car lengths behind. Even further back trails a third car, equally crazy in its aerodynamics and body styling but with a open cockpit allowing full view of the driver leaning to fight against the g forces ( Audi R10 TDI). We see the driver of the B09/60 from the perspective of the nose of the car peering in, he is pressed against the left side of his seat, angling his body against the crushing cornering g forces. Debris and reflections on the windshield obscure the view of the driver, hiding details of his features and the cockpit. 

A young girl stands by her father, clutching his hand in the pit-lane paddock alongside the start/finish straightaway of the long track. The father is equipped in a full, fire-resistant racing suit peppered with sponsor logos large and small. His shaggy, medium length hair blows in the gentle wind. Faces forward, the two look out at the track in silence, standing at the edge of the paddock’s garage bay door. The roar of approaching cars crescendos. The girl points at the direction of the sound, tugs on her father’s sleeve.

“Papa! Papa! I wanna see!” she shouts looking up at him, her face beaming with excitement. 

He looks down to her, his stern face softened by her enthusiasm. A gentle smile spreads across his face. He bends down, picking her up by the waist, and lifts her up onto his shoulders so that she can see over the track’s barrier. 

Cars zoom by one by one leaving wakes of strong wind gusts that blows around hair and clothes. Closeup of the girl, a gaping smile and a sparkle in her eyes. 

“So cooooooooool!” 

A pit crew chief with large headphones approaches from behind and knocks between the father’s shoulder blades like he would a heavy oak door. The driver’s attention is captured, turning around to face the associate.

“Oi! You’re up this lap, Heikkinen.” The chief says tapping his wrist watch to emphasize the urgency of time. 

The driver gives a silent nod and gently sets his daughter back to the ground on her own two feet. He takes a knee meeting her eye to eye and, gives her hand a reassuring squeeze. A round pendant slips out from under his suit and hangs down from around his neck. On it there is an engraved symbol. The Hannunvaakuna. An ancient Finnish symbol of protection against evil spirits and bad luck.

“Papa’s gotta go to work now sweetheart. Make sure to behave, okay?” He says to her in a soft voice. 

She avoids his gaze but gives a quick nod. He stands back up, slips the necklace back under his suit, and the pit chief hands him his helmet and HANS device. the pit crew rushes to the edge of the garage bay door with air guns and tires in preparation of the impending pit stop. He throws the HANS device around his shoulders and slips the helmet over his head, only getting to pull it down to the top of his ears before he is stopped by his daughter calling out to him

“Papa!”

“When I grow up Im gonna be the world’s bestest driver. Just like you!” Her fists are tightly balled. Her shoulders are tense. Her eyes are squeezed tight with the faint hint of tears forming at the corners. 

On a fundamental level she knows what he does is dangerous, and any drive may be his last. She’s scared, but she doesn’t want to leave things on a negative mood. He senses her tension and shoots back a reassuring smile and playfully rustles her hair. Her tense posture eases.

“I don’t doubt it for a minute!” He says before he finally slips on his helmet and is ushered out to the pit staging area geared up and seat insert in hand. 

The B09/60 pulls into the pit and the crew scramble into their positions around the car. Heikkinen sprints around to the left side of the car, the previous driver hopping out as a crew member on the right side removes the old seat insert. Heikkinen scrambles to get inside and buckled as fast as he can with the help of the crew member on the right. He’s strapped in and the doors shut with a dramatic THUNK. 

Without sparing a moment the car is air-jacked up and the rest of the crew gets to work changing tires, four men in total. One associate with an air gun loosens the center nut on the front left wheel and pulls the old wheel off the car with his free hand, effortlessly tossing it out of the way. In perfect synch another associate comes with a fresh wheel and slips it in place for the first associate to tighten the center nut. One wheel down. Next the rear left. The crew members repeat this process at breakneck speed chasing the fastest possible pit stop time.. The last of the wheels is tightly riveted to the car and the air jack line is pulled, immediately dropping the car back onto its wheels with a slight bounce. Heikkinen wastes no time and accelerates out of the pits as the crew returns back within the confines of the garage. The young girl stands at the edge of the garage bay door, alone, fists balled, watching her father disappear into the distance. The car is out of sight. We see her standing isolated on a black background, nothing surrounding her but leaves blown by the increasingly strengthening wind. Her eyes are hidden by shadow. 

The words “Please be safe” are written in a word bubble within a pure black panel.

There’s a loud crash and a thud.

A girl bolts upright awake in her dorm room bed, her long silver hair a comically disheveled mess. Around her neck is the pendant, slightly warped and tarnished. Cradled in her arms is a stuffed bear. She looks around sleepily for the source of the noise in the dark room. The dorm is small, but homey. The floors are a deep hard wood with a shiny, lacquered finish. Across the room is an identical twin-sized bed with puffy white beddings. Above that bed is a large whiteboard affixed to the wall, on it is several equations and diagrams. Between the beds are two identical desks, the contents on top of which are far from identical. The one on the opposite side of the room is clean and organized while the near side desk is cluttered with papers, envelopes, books, and pens. On the night stand there’s a standard digital alarm clock. It reads 7:06am | 25/8/19.

In the middle of the room below some shelving is an overturned carboard box and spiral notebooks littered across the floor in a messy pile. The girl stares at the mess half asleep and unsure what to make of it

“…eh?” she lets out.

‘that’s a problem for future me’ she thins to herself and plops back down into bed, cocooning herself under the covers.

“Aaaaaaaaannniiiiiiiii” a specter-like voice calls out from under the pile of books.  
!!!!!? 

Anni bolts back upright, her attention directed back to the pile.’ She’s wide awake now and staring down at the pile. 

“Am I hearing things??” She mumbles to herself, still alert and focused on the pile.

"Aaaaaaaanniiiiiiiiiii"

A hand reaches out shakily from under the pile of books, much like a zombie reaching out of the grave. 

“EEYAAAAAAAAA” Anni shouts with a comical frightened face. 

The hand pulls itself out of the pile and a face emerges. A girl with cartoonish tears streaming down her face, not the undead. 

“Anniiiii help meeee” the girl calls out. 

“Reina!!” Anni switches gears from fear to anger. She tosses the stuffed animal at Reina and nails her right in the face. 

Anni pulls Reina out of the mess of books. Reina stands up straight, stretching her arms and legs, and plops both hands on Anni's shoulders. 

"Thanks Anni, you're a life saver!" She says one hand still on Anni's shoulder, the other giving a thumbs up. Sparkles dance around her face

Anni is not amused, brushing Reina's hand off her shoulder

“So what happened?” she asks

Reina spins around with one foot in the air, bends down, and begins picking up and putting books back into the now right side up carboard box. 

“heh, well you see. I was trying to put all my notebooks from last semester away with my other old notebooks but the box was really heavy and I lost my balance trying to put it back and… Tada~!” Reina does jazz hands at the mess on the floor. 

Anni lets out a sigh and gets down on her knees to help pick up the mess. The girls pick up all the books and neatly order them in the box. 

“What are these even for?” Anni asks turning over a book to read its cover. Physics Mechanics. She puts it away in the box. 

“I like to keep all my old class notes since middle school just in case I need them again!” Reina says. 

‘How would you even take this much notes in middle school..’ Anni wonders inside her head. 

“Whew. That’s the last of 'em!” Reina says wiping her brow. 

They get in position on either side of the box and prepare to lift it together. 

“Hnnngngg!” 

Even with two people it’s a struggle. Anni has an exaggerated constipation face as they both labor it over their heads, sweat covering her face. They manage to get the box up on the top shelf where it once lived and flop themselves on the floor in exhaustion. Anni lays sprawled out on her back. She quickly sits back up and look at Reina.

“Wait why do you even keep that heavy ass thing up so high? Wouldn’t literally anywhere be better?” 

Reina pauses, hand on her chin looking introspective. 

“Hmmmm” She perks up like having a lightbulb moment and says with a flowery aura “Good point!”

Anni looks at her like she’s the biggest idiot in the world. ‘I can’t believe this girl is the top of the class’ she thinks to herself. Another panel of Reina’s beaming, innocent smile. Above her head is bold text that reads “R. Kobayashi | 16 | Pilot” with the Japanese flag to the left of her name.

“Now, lets get some breakfast. All that lifting has got me staaarving!” Reina says with a huge innocent smile. She’s like the personification of a ray of sunshine. She grabs Anni by the arm and pulls her out the door of the room. 

“WAIT!! CLOTHES! CLOTHES!” Anni yells desperately clinging to the doorframe. They’re both still in pajamas. 

The two girls, now fully clothed in their school uniforms, walk down a wide, bustling corridor. The building is vast with high ceilings, gigantic plate windows, and a wide walkway. The floors are a brilliant shining marble smooth as glass, reflecting a near perfect image of the people, walls, and ceiling. A handful of historic race cars from the 60’s onward are lined beside a wall of glass, a small tour group of incoming students gawk at the assortment of cars while their guide mentions something or other about the heritage of the academy. A pair of sharply dressed professors walk past, thick stacks of papers in each of their arms as they converse with each other. Anni has a breakfast burrito in one hand, Reina has pile of them cradled in her arms. 

“Reporting live from Audubon Motorsports Academy. It’s the last day of break, any plans on how you’re going to spend it young Miss?” Anni says puffing her chest and impersonating a reporter, turning to Reina and holding her burrito in front of her face like a microphone. 

“Hmmmmm.” Reina puts a finger to her lower lip, giving a pensive look as she thinks. Then she leans forward and bites a large chunk out of Anni’s microphone-burrito. 

“WsfsHhdl gm mrmnf dodhe cwessseawn awh skguwal-“ Reina says with enthusiasm

Annie cuts her off by lightly chopping her over the head with her left hand. 

“Swallow your food first dummy.” ‘who raised you’ she thinks to herself

Reina nods and covers her mouth with one hand as she takes a deep gulp.

“We should check out our class schedules for tomorrow. So we know where to go and whatnot.” Reina repeats.

“Huh, good idea” Anni nods in agreement. ‘There’s the serious Reina that aces every written and practical exam.’ She thinks to herself. The girls pull out their phones and navigate to their class schedules. They place their phones side by side to compare. 

“Oh! Hey look we’ve got Race Craft together tomorrow morning!” Anni says perking up. 

Reina’s mouth is full of more burrito, but she nods excitedly. She gulps down the mouthful of food and crumples its wrapper, stuffing it in her pocket before letting out a deep sigh. 

“Ahhhh so tasty.” Reina says with a face of blissful satisfaction. Flowers and sunshine dance around her expression.

She walks up to the nearest trash can and throws away five different wrappers she pulls from her pockets. Anni looks at her, somewhat judgmental. ‘Top of the class in eating too’ she thinks to herself. 

Hung from the wall near the trash can is a long banner with the words ‘IMTDP – Interdisciplinary Motorsport Talent Development Program’ and flashy visuals of cars crossing the finish line to a checkered flag and silhouettes of important looking figures. At the bottom of the banner are the words ‘Pilots – Engineering – Operations – Management’ juxtaposed with simple graphical symbols of a steering wheel, x ̈, a wrench over a gear, and two hands clasped in a handshake respectively. Reina look up and studies the banner for a quick moment.

The girls walk through various buildings, passing through architecture ranging from clinical and modern to gothic to heavily industrial. Each environment is busy and populated in its own way. A vast, clinical looking computer lab is filled with students using computer workstations for computer aided design, programming, and other course work. Some students are asleep at the computer with scattered papers and empty energy drink cans surrounding them. An industrial breezeway between two manufacturing shops, a dirty forklift carries the empty shell of a car to be scrapped. Structural engineers in hard hats and reflective vests coordinate the unloading of massive looking manufacturing infrastructure from the bed of an eighteen-wheeler. 

“So what are your thoughts on that IMT program initiative?” Reina says looking off into the distance as they walk. 

“You mean the assigned race team thing?” Anni asks.

“Mmhm!” Reina nods.

“Aw man yeah, now that we’re second years that’ll be a thing for us, huh?... You nervous or something?” 

“Of course! I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t. You?” Reina says spinning around to face Anni while walking backwards. 

Anni scoffs.

“Hah! L-like hell. With skills like mine I’ve got nothing to worry about!” Anni stammers out, actively avoiding eye contact. She’s blushing slightly.

“Ehhhh? Somehow you’re not very convincing.” Reina says leaning in with a smug expression and poking Anni’s cheek. 

Anni swats Reina’s hand away and stops to look out over the landscape before them. An empty road course, the morning sun is mid-way to its highest point in the sky, peaking behind some clouds. Rays of golden light shower the landscape before her casting long, dark shadows. Anni and Reina stand at the top of an empty section of spectator stands, overlooking the start/finish line and the pit lane garages. Down below the pits are filled with activity from other IMT students working on and test driving their cars. 

“Its going to be an interesting semester at least” is written in a word bubble in an empty black panel.

[To be continued]


	2. Would Rather Not be Awake This Early

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First day of classes in the new semester and god is it tough to be conscious and functional.

A shot of a bedside table with a cellphone resting on top, the room is dark. The phone beeps and vibrates, filling the frame with sound. 7:30am alarm is displayed on the phone screen. A hand reaches out and SMACKS at the screen until it hits its mark on the snooze button. 

Silence resumes, resembling the first frame, but with the outstretched arm lazily flopping down and out of view. 

7:35am, the alarm rings again. The hand returns, hunting for the snooze button. 7:40am, Another alarm. Snooze! Alarm! Snooze! Alarm! Snooze! Alarm! 8:40am. This time Anni begrudgingly gets up, sitting up on the edge of the bed. Her hair is a tangled mess. Her eyes are underscored by deep, dark bags. 

She picks the phone off the nightstand and disables the alarm properly before tossing it on the bed. Heading towards the other side of the room she lets out a satisfying yawn while stretching her right arm up in the air. 

“Reinaaaa~ Its time to wake up.” Anni says flicking on the dorm room lights, squinting from its brightness. 

“5 more minutes~” says the shapeless lump underneath all the thick blankets. 

Anni wastes no time grabbing the corner of the blanket and tugging it away, leaving behind a displeased Reina on her back—arms and legs spread out on the now blanket-less bed. 

Her cheeks puffed and eyes squinted. “Jerk!” 

 

Anni gives her a dismissive waive as she heads into the bathroom closing the door behind her.

The bathroom is an organized disaster. The counters are clean yet cluttered with countless bottles of product and containers of makeup. Anni sifts through the collection of items, most of them hers, and pulls out a toothbrush and tooth paste. 

She brushes her teeth, the lather spills out of her mouth running down her chin, her eyes glazed over and struggling to stay open. She leans over and spits the toothpaste foam into the sink and splashes her face with water, properly waking her up. She combs her tangled hair into a presentable shape and buttons up the collared dress shirt of her uniform, the bottom extending past her hips about as long as a short skirt. Around her neck is the pendant. 

She puts on the rest of the uniform consisting of a high-waisted black skirt, black suspenders, and a patterned bow. Lastly, she ties her hair up with a crimson bow, the ends pointing up like fabric rabbit ears. 

“Damn I look good!” she says to herself, striking a pose and admiring her own view in the mirror with sparkling eyes. 

The corner of her eye is drawn to a large shampoo bottle at the far edge of the counter. She grabs it, holding it up like a trophy and waiving to an imaginary crowd as if she was on the top step of the winner’s podium. She vividly imagines the dense crowd cheering and chanting her name as she blows kisses to her fans. Confetti falls from sky. A winner’s wreath is draped around her shoulders. 

“Thank you! thank you! I’m the best after all! hehehehe” The dumb smile on her face shows how she’s having too much fun with this. 

“kukukuku” a smug laugh creeps in from the side, breaking Anni out of her fantasy. 

Reina is standing in the bathroom doorway in her pajamas. Her hand covers over her mouth in an unsuccessful attempt to hold back her laughter at Anni’s ‘thought I was alone’ antics. 

Anni looks at her for a moment wide-eyed and petrified like a deer in headlights. She turns beet red.

“W-what the h-hell Reina? Ever heard of privacy??” she shouts at her roommate, flustered, fists clenched and shoulders tense. 

“ohohoh, do forgive me Ms. Great Future World Champ, I simply couldn’t resist basking in your—pffthaha—radiant glory~” Reina is still trying to hold back chuckles. 

Anni’s grip tightens on the shampoo bottle, crushing it in her hand. A little bit of shampoo spills out of the top. Her gaze is downward, face obscured by shadow. 

Through gritted teeth and pulsing veins, she says, “You got a death wish?” 

Reina looks up and to the left, placing an index finger on her chin in thought. 

“Oh for sure! But mostly only on weekends and holidays and today’s only Monday so-“ Reina’s bad humor is cut off by the swift throw of the bottle, pegging her square on the face. Reina stands frozen in place, eyes closed and still mid smile. ‘Hehe oops she’s mad’ Reina thinks to herself. 

“O-jamashimasu (Sorry for the intrusion)” She says bowing slightly, smug smiling. 

She backs away slowly, closing the bathroom door behind her. Anni lets out a deep sigh, releasing her tension. 

“Jeez, that girl.” She turns back to the mirror to view her reflection, smacking both cheeks of her face with her two hands. “Time to get focused” she thinks to herself. 

Anni and Reina walk into a large lecture hall packed with. Each of the seven seating rows’ desks are continuous slabs stretching from one end of the room to the other along a semi-circular arc. Each row is elevated a couple feet above the row before it, reminiscent of a roman amphitheater. 

Anni and Reina take their seats.

All eyes are focused on the center of the room. A short, slender man with wild, curly gray hair stands at the lectern pulling stacks of papers out of his leather satchel bag. The freeform nature of his curls slightly obscures his receding hairline. His cheekbones are high, his face narrow, and his nose has a pronounced kink to the left in the middle. He is wearing a pair of dress slacks and an untucked, black t-shirt with “It’s in the syllabus” written across the front. 

Projected behind him is a detailed text document titled Racecraft Fundamentals Course Syllabus. 

“And so just like previous semesters, every student can either gain or lose up to 100 points from their Driver Score as determined by the average of their class grades.“ The lecturer points to a chart projected on the screen behind him: S = +100, A = +80, B = +40, C = +0, D = -60, F = -100. 

“What will be new for you second years is the practical tournament racing aspect of the curriculum. Repeated podiums and race wins will increase your score.” Panels of a waving checkered flag, three cars crossing the finish line a v-formation, and three trophy-brandishing, silhouetted figures standing on the winner’s podium overlaid with the lecturer’s words. 

“Failing to finish in the top ten, will mean you gain zero points and can even cause your score to drop.” Panels of a silhouetted figure with head in hands and slouched shoulders and a leaderboard of names in which the top ten finishers are grouped as ‘in the points’ while those below 10th place are grouped as ‘outside the points’. 

“The exact amount of points you can gain or lose depends on the division and where you finish. Above all, make absolute sure your overall Driver Score does not fall below zero. If that were to happen, you would face immediate—and merciless—expulsion.” 

“No exception.” His wise, but gentle eyes scan across the sea of students filling the seats before him, various personalities standing out in the crowd. 

His gaze stops at the sight of Anni dozing off in her chair. His eyes narrow. A slight scowl spreads from the corner of his thin lips. He swipes a dirty chalk eraser from the blackboard behind him, reels his arm back in a powerful stance, and hurls it at Anni with incredible force. 

The resulting shockwave of turbulent air blows the stack of papers in every direction. The eraser impacts Anni directly on the forehead, knocking her head back in an explosive cloud of chalk dust. She is startled her awake, dazed, confused, and coughing. She quickly looks around, trying to process what just happened. There is a white mark on the center of her forehead from the eraser projectile. A little column of steam rises from the center point. 

“It’s a little early in the semester to be slacking, don’t you think Heikkinen?” The lecturer asks, a sadistic expression on his face. 

[To be continued]


	3. Crash Course

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An already tense day of instruction ends in a bang.

Reina has been diligently taking notes in a thick spiral notebook, switching between several colored pens. Meanwhile Anni only has a copy of the syllabus in front of her. The atmosphere is still and tense. 

“Could it be my lecture is boring you?” The lecturer follows up, his intense aura growing stronger. 

In a panic Anni stands up and bows repeatedly 

“No sir! My apologies I didn’t mean any disrespect!” In her haste she smacks her forehead against the desk mid bow. 

She reels back from the blow, standing up stalk straight and rubbing the affected area. A cartoonish bump has already formed. 

“If it happens again I’ll dock your grade, got it?” His dark aura towers above her, his imposing stance taking up the majority of the frame. 

Anni nods her head vigorously and drops back into her seat. Like flipping a switch, the professor’s demeanor shifts back to meek and gentle. 

“If no one has any questions, we’ll conclude our discussion of the syllabus and begin with Lecture 1.” 

Anni sulks in her seat thinking ‘I already hate this class’ to herself. Reina shoots her hand up into the air. 

“Professor, I have a question!” 

“A-ah, very well.” The lecturer is slightly taken off-guard by Reina’s enthusiasm. 

“Is food allowed during lecture??” She asks with an eager glint in her eyes. 

“Denied” He responds, unamused. 

“Aw~” Reina says pouting, she looks down at her backpack, its open compartment filled with bags of various snacks. She zips up the bag and pats its top. 

“Don’t’ worry my babies, I’ll tend to you soon.” She whispers to her snacks

“Alright, now that’s out of the way. Today we’ll be covering Racing Lines as well as overtaking and defensive strategies. This’ll be a bit of a review, but the importance of building a strong foundation here cannot be understated” 

Reina is sitting up perfectly straight at attention, she flips to the next page in her notebook, pen in hand awaiting more content to copy down. She looks over at Anni and shoots her a thumbs up with a question mark over her head, as if to ask if Anni is alright after getting absolutely reamed second earlier. 

Anni leans back in her chair and returns the thumbs up despite her clearly annoyed face. Reina gives her a comforting smile. 

‘Let’s get icecream after this yeah?’ Anni can decode her expression in an instant. Anni nods and Reina returns her focus to taking notes. 

 

“The simplest case is where the driver has clear track and cares about navigating the corner as fast as possible. Thus, the standard racing line is used.”   
A diagram is shown of a thick red line overlaid against a track’s corner. 

“By beginning the corner at the outside of the track, crossing to the inside at the apex, and continuing back to the outside at corner exit, the radius through the corner is geometrically maximized.” 

Another diagram of an object traveling in a circular path with arrows labeling the directions of velocity and lateral acceleration, accompanied by a set of universal circular motion equations: a_c=v^2/R →v=√(R∙a_c ). 

“Imagine your car taking a turn is like this ball on a rope.” He says beginning to swing the rope over his head at a radius of 0.10 meters.   
Acceleration and velocity arrows of the ball are drawn and labeled. Acceleration: 30.17 m/s^2, velocity: 3.89mph. 

“For the same acceleration keeping the ball on a circular path, the velocity increases proportionally with the radius.” 

He swings the ball again at a radius of 3 meters. The ball swoops over the heads of students in the front. They duck and cower below their desks in fear of the spinning death trap as the professor cackles maniacally. 

Acceleration: (same), velocity: 21.27 mph (↑447%). 

“Simply put, the larger the radius the more speed you can carry through the turn.”

The professor spirals the ball back towards him and catches it in his left hand without looking. It impacts his palm with a thundering THWACK. 

“Mix in another driver though, and things get more complicated.” He continues.

A diagram shows two cars side by side attempting to navigate the same corner, their lines overlap and crash. 

“Racing, like any other competitive sports, relies on strategy. Offense and defense. There are certain techniques you can use to overtake the car ahead. But, there are also strategies they can use to keep that from happening.” 

A bird’s eye diagram illustrates two cars driving down a straight-away, one car is ahead of the other. The car behind pulls out to the side just before an upcoming turn. 

“Offensive move 1: Lunging. You pull alongside driver in front on the inside of the turn, brake as late as you can, control the apex, and then squeeze him out on corner exit.” 

A diagram illustrates the different stages of the lunging maneuver. 

“How do you defend against this? Just don’t let the other guy have the inside line.” 

Diagram of defending driver cutting off the attack by moving to the inside line before the turn.

“You sacrifice a bit of lap time by not following the ideal racing line, but if they want to get around you they’ll either have to go around the outside or try a switchback.”

The professor glances down at his watch. He does a double take.

1:00pm. Class officially ended at 12:45. 

“Oh my! that’s all the time we have for today! Assignments are posted online via RLearning. Late work will be given a zero no exceptions.” He says while hurriedly stuffing his materials into his leather satchel bag and bolting out of the lecture hall. 

The students only just beginning to pack up their notes and get up themselves. 

“What a nutcase…” Anni wonders aloud, closing her barren notebook. 

Reina’s stomach audibly growls. The girls look at each other, silent for a beat. 

“You hungry?” Anni asks, chuckling. 

“He wouldn’t let me eat my snacks!” Reina says with a pouting face. 

Anni chuckles some more, her mood is beginning to brighten. 

“Lets go get some icecream then.” She says throwing her bag over her shoulder. 

Reina eyes lights up and the two exit the classroom. Out in the hall several students are in a frenzy rushing to the large plate glass windows where a crowd is gathering. 

“Yo come check this out”   
“Oh my god”   
“It looks bad”   
“I can’t look” 

The students in the crowd murmur to themselves and each other. Anni and Reina exchange confused looks, shrugging at each other before succumbing to their curiosity. They squeeze through the dense crowd to make their way to a spot where they can view what’s caused all the commotion. 

Down on the race track below is the mangled remains of what was once a racecar, components and body panels scattered end to end across the track. The chassis structure of the car is overturned and almost unrecognizable, with a trail of fluids and debris left in its wake. The barrier on the right side of the track is warped and twisted from the impact. Track Martials and paramedics are crowded around the demolished vehicle tending to the driver. The driver’s condition is obstructed from view by the martials holding up a large yellow tarp. 

A sudden gust of wind catches the martials off guard, the tarp slipping from their grasp and revealing what was once hidden. A driver laid out on a stretcher. An oxygen mask strapped to his bruised face. A twisted leg pointing in a direction legs were never meant to bend. A blood-soaked racing suit. 

Anni stares at the scene, eyes wide and pupils narrow. Nausea and flashbacks of a familiar scene project across her face. 

Reina stands behind her. Her solemn expression viewed from across Anni’s shoulder. Reina looks down and away. 

[To be continued]


	4. Eat the Rich

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anni finds herself in a heated confrontation against one of the elite

The injured driver is loaded into the back of the ambulance, paramedics climbing in with him and shutting the doors behind themselves as the group of students look on and murmur to themselves. 

“Will he be alright?”   
“There goes his semester”   
“Nah, there goes his career”   
“Tough to bounce back from an injury like that…” 

Anni looks around at people in the crowd. An expression of shock on her face. ‘What the hell is wrong with everyone? Why’re they acting so detached like he’s less than a bird with an injured wing. That’s a PERSON. Do they not get that? How can they not get that?’ She thinks to herself, isolated on a black background. 

“Pfft, I say he has no one to blame but himself. Know your limits or end up in the wall.” A pompous voice sounds form the crowd, pulling Anni out of her thoughts. 

The source of the voice is a tall slender boy, a second year like Anni. His brown hair is shiny and slicked back into a wave. His uniform is spotless, pressed, and shirt buttoned all the way up to the top. An ornate gold watch hangs loosely from his slender wrist. His expression is smug and mightier-than-thou. The look of disgust and anger grows stronger on Anni’s face. The boy throws his hands up in the air in a shrugging motion. 

“Oh well. It appears that is how the incompetents themselves out. Hah hah hah!.” 

He has an exaggerated, ugly, expression while he laughs. His grating laugh spills into a closeup panel of Anni’s face, her expression twisted with tension and anger. She’s had enough. She spins around to face the direction of his words, her menacing aura enough to clear a path through the crowd as she takes heavy steps towards him. She stops in front of him, her face pointed down and her eyes covered in shadow. Her fists are clenched at her sides. His laugh stops and he raises an eyebrow, looking down his nose at her. The height difference between them is noticeable, he towers over her small frame, making her look insignificant in the panel.

“And… you are?” He asks with an air of ‘You’re beneath me’. 

Without a word Anni looks up, meeting his gaze, and revealing her furious eyes. In one lightning quick motion she firmly grabs the base of his tie in her right hand. A flash of surprise and fear spreads across his face just before he is violently yanked down to her eye level. 

“You’ve gotta be some unique breed of trash to say crap like that.” She says between gritted teeth. Her face is millimeters away from his. 

“H-how dare you lay your common hands on me! Do you even know who I am?” the boy stammers out trying fruitlessly to pull himself out of her death grip. 

She lets go while he is mid-tug, causing him to fall backwards on his ass with a loud THUD. Still on the floor and facing Anni, he crawls in reverse trying to put space between them. She walks towards him at an equal pace, not letting him get away.

“I-I’ll h-have you know I am Winston Douglas Sussex III, heir to the S-sussex parts distribution empire and I will n-not be disrespected by the likes of y-“.   
THWACK! 

His words are cut off by the sound of Anni kicking the wall he’s just backed himself into. She holds her leg there, cornering him in. 

“Ohhhhhh so you’re real hot shit yeah?” Anni says with a bright smile that is somehow more frightening than when her expression was angry. Her figure towering over him now. 

“Then how about we settle this on the track?” She says with her devilish grin. Her eyes say murder and the sharp points of her canine teeth are visible through her unsettling smile. 

“One on one—loser gets expelled. How about it?” She says

He’s thoroughly spooked, all color drained from his face   
“E-expelled? T-that’s preposterous, you’d have to be i-i-insane to put expulsion on the line in a wager rac—” 

Anni gives the wall another solid kick, causing Winston to jump and let out an uncharacteristically girly squeal. Bits of drywall crumble to the floor as cracks in the wall spider out from the point of impact.

“Huh? You scared or something, beansprout? What happened to that bigass ego from a second ago?” 

In the outskirts of the crowd a handful of administrators are making their way through the commotion. Reina takes notice and approaches Anni from behind. She taps on Anni on the shoulder, looking back and forth between her and the adults closing in. 

“Um Anni-“   
“Not now Reina!” 

Anni shrugs off Reina’s hand before returning her attention to the quivering Winston. Anni leans in, coming eye to eye with him, their faces millimeters apart. Sweat is dripping profusely down his face. 

“So… what do you say?” 

“That’s enough!” a booming voice cuts through the fray. 

Anni’s eyes go wide and she immediately drops the tough-gal act. She bolts upright, turning around to face the fearsome voice. A bead of sweat rolls down her temple. The dean of student’s tall, muscular frame looms over the students in the crowd, his deep eye-sockets shrouded in shadow. He is accompanied by three additional bald men in dark suits and sunglasses who, compared to him, look like mini-bosses. 

“All students disperse and continue to your next class.” His voice booms.

The students scatter in all directions without hesitation. Winston hastily pulls himself off the floor and bolts in the other direction, hunched over and trying in vain to cover the fresh wet spot on his crotch. Reina and Anni are some of the last to leave the scene, Anni once again looking down at the floor with her eyes obscured. 

“Come on Anni lets go” Reina loops her arm through Anni’s and leads her away past the dean and administrators. 

His burning eyes follow them as they walk. Reina shoots him a guilty smile, as if to say, ‘Sorry about my idiot’. Anni’s eyes are serious, her expression disappointed. 

“tch.” She says as she’s led away from the commotion. The panel a closeup of the lower half of her face.  
Reina and Anni are seated at a small round table-for-two in front of an ice-cream shop in the student union food court. They both have soft serve ice cream in hand. Anni is leaning against the table, her left cheek resting against her fist, with a pouting expression. 

“Fuck that guy fuck that guy fuck that guy. The hell does he think he is?? God what I would give to really put him in his place or publicly humiliate him or something!” She rants to Reina. 

Reina, her usual bubbly self, scoots her chair closer to Anni and pats her on the head. 

“There, there! You did plenty~” 

Reina recalls back to her perspective of the scene in the crowd. Winston on the ground, cornered by Anni, and on the verge of pissing himself. The other students in the crowd snickering and making remarks on his cowardice. His former reputation as an untouchable elite forever tarnished. Stained just like the slacks of his uniform. 

“I feel like you’re not taking me seriously” Anni says, eying Reina. 

Reina withdraws her hand. She looks down at the half-finished ice cream cone in her hand, her expression becoming more serious. A subtle sadness lingers in her eyes.

“I can’t deny that guy was a real piece of work.” Reina says, standing up. She faces Anni, bends forward, and wags a finger at her  
.   
“But that’s no excuse to take a Wager Match so lightly. Let alone putting expulsion at stake!” 

Anni pouts at Reina’s lecturing, her arms crossed, avoiding eye contact. ‘Booo’ She thinks to herself. Reina plops back down in her chair, her elbows resting against her knees, her head low, and her shoulders hunched forward. 

“Y’know….” Reina pauses for beat, both girls are silent.  
“I hate it when people get injured on track just as much as you do. It reminds me how all it takes is one mistake and we could be in the hospital. Or worse.“ She pauses, with a deep sigh.

“But that’s just the way things are in this line of work. We all know that, and we do it anyways. I’m sure it was the same for that driver…” Reina trails off. 

The mood is quiet and reflective. The girls sit in silence looking down at their ice creams, not eating any. BZZZZZRRTT. BZZZZZZZRRTT. A ringtone and vibration sounds from inside Anni’s bag. Question marks hover over both girls’ heads, looking at each other and then the bag. Anni shuffles through the inside of the bag to pull out her buzzing cell phone. ‘Race Crew Orientation: in 5 minutes’ is displayed on screen. Anni swipes up on the device and a map pops up showing the massive distance between the Student Union and the Orientation Hall, at least 5 buildings down. 

“Crap! We’re going to be late to orientation!” Anni shouts, her shoulders like a cat with its hair standing up. 

“Huh? :)” Reina doesn’t quite have enough time to process before Anni grabs her by the back of the shirt collar and bolts out of the student union, Reina dangling behind in tow like a flag fluttering in the wind. Reina drops her ice-cream in the sharp jerk Anni gives her. 

“My strawberry swirl!” She calls out with cartoonish tears down her face. 

[To be continued]


	5. The Champion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With orientation comes high expectations of standing where giants once stood

The orientation hall is an enormous and ornate room, like an opera house in both size and extravagance. The walls are lined with decorative structures. The seats are lined up in rows in an amphitheater arrangement with a second level veranda jutting out from the back wall of the hall. Nearly every seat is filled with students, somewhere in the range of 2000 people. 

The stage area is elevated, wide open, and well-lit from every direction—reflecting off the glossy wood floor and onto the backdrop. At the center of the stage is a contemporary design podium with a minimalist metal frame and glass top; at its center is the logo of the academy frosted into the glass. Atop the podium stands a single glass figurine shaped like a person. 

The two girls hurry into the auditorium second level, the double doors swinging back and forth behind them. They grab a pair of seats at the end of a row in the middle of the veranda. The house lights dim and a spot light focuses on the curtain at stage left. A dark man dressed in a full racing suit and snapback makes his way from behind the curtain to the podium, the spotlight following him the whole way. 

His hair is buzzed, a neatly trimmed line of facial hair accentuating his jawline. Light flickers and sparkles off the large diamond earrings adorned on each of his earlobes. His confident aura radiates outward like light from the sun, brightening up the stage even more. Annie is starstruck, her eyes lighting up with excitement. She grips Reina’s sleeve tightly staring wide eyed at the stage. 

Reina takes notice and looks at her confused, a question mark floating above her head. Anni turns to her, eyes still sparkling and mouth agape. Reina’s seeming lack of knowledge snaps her back to normal.

“Do you not kno-“ Anni starts. 

“Ahem!” An intimidating man in a suit cuts her off. 

He is standing against the wall to their side. His gaze burns into her. Pinned on his arm is a crimson red band that says “Administration”. Anni is frozen in a pose of mid speech for a beat, a bead of sweat rolling down her temple. 

A lightbulb appears over her head and inspiration flashes across her face. She digs through her bag like a starving raccoon, pulling out a notebook and marker. She hastily uncaps the marker with her mouth, holding the cap between her teeth as she scribes something onto the paper. She concludes and holds the paper up to Reina, marker cap still between her teeth.

“Do you not know who HE is????” is written on the sheet in messy, but legible handwriting. The word He is underlined an absurd amount of times. Anni points rapidly and repeatedly in the direction of the man on stage. 

Reina quietly shakes her head. No clue. Anni whips out her phone and begins furiously typing at the screen. She lights up when she finds what she’s looking for and shoves the phone in Reina’s face with a huff. On screen is a web article titled ‘Motorsport Icon Lewis Hampton Retires After 7th Consecutive World Championship Title Win’. The man pictured in the article holding a torso-length trophy amidst a shower of confetti and champagne is the same man on stage. 

Hampton stops at the podium folding his hands together and resting them on the glass top. He looks out across the crowd, a sea of faces in the vast auditorium before him. The vantage point is from the center of the stage high above Hampton’s head, we see him at the podium at the front of the stage, a silhouette against the bright stage lighting, dwarfed by the scale of the auditorium.

“Students.” He says, giving pause immediately after.

“Why do we race?” He says, pausing again. His hands outstretched, palms facing the ceiling, as if expecting an answer to his rhetorical question. His demeanor is calm and reserved.

“A simple question with a simple yet elusive answer.” He brings his hands together, intertwining his fingers. He leans forward on the podium. 

“Throughout history mankind has sought one thing. A goal so accessible yet out of reach. One common ideal so universal that it is shared across every culture in every corner of the globe.” He pauses, pushing himself off from the podium and shifting his weight back onto his heels.

Anni is leaning forward on the edge of her seat, captivated by Hamptons words. Sparkles dance around her starry-eyed face. Reina is sitting up straight in her chair, focusing intently on the speech, but purely out of respect and not star-struck awe like Anni.

“That is the pursuit of speed!” He says raising and clenching his right fist in the air. His calm demeanor shedding away with sudden intensity.

“From the first humans to run on their own two feet, to command of wild horses, to modified bootlegger hot-rods, to super-sonic flight capable jets, to rockets that defy even the clutches of Earth’s gravity, all examples of humanity’s unrelenting pushing of the envelope in the pursuit of going faster than those before.” 

Cutaway images in order of mention in the speech: A primitive man running with spear in hand towards animal prey, the terrain is a dry and grassy with rolling hills and boulders and smaller rocks here and there. Three chariots pulled by hoses racing within a populated Roman stadium, dust and dirt kicked up by the wheels and horses’ feet. an American bootlegger in a highly modified 1920’s street car skidding and sliding down a dirt road, outrunning a pair of pursuing police cars. A formation of three fighter jets break the sound barrier flying high above the clouds, the sky is clear and serene, disturbed only by the super-sonic shockwaves produced by the jets at their leading edges and wakes. A rocket at full propellant burn is high above the earth on its way to orbit, the clouds and land features look miniscule from the vantage point high above. The payload at its tip is Elon Musk’s Tesla Roadster from the Falcon Heavy test launch, a spacesuit clad mannequin postured in the driver’s seat with one arm resting on the window sill.

“So why do we race?” He asks extending both arms out in the ‘are you not entertained pose’, looking out over the still crowd, raising one eyebrow.

“Because it answers the question, ‘who is fastest?’. Simple. Beautiful. 

“And so, chasing your own ambitions of reaching the top in this multi-trillion-dollar industry has brought you here to this prestigious academy.“ A wide birds-eye shot of the vast campus. The landscape is densely packed with buildings of all shapes and architectural styles, several road courses and test tracks, and accompanying garages and manufacturing facilities. As far as the eye can see is within the bounds of the academy.

“This hallowed ground which has produced countless motorsports Legends. Legacies that continue to demonstrate the human ability to push past all boundaries.”

Behind Hampton is the image of three silhouettes in dramatic lighting holding trophies high in the air, the top of the panel is light with a white background and transitions to black at the bottom of the panel, dramatic shadows casting over Hampton.

“Each and every one of you before me has the potential to earn your place in the history books.” He says outstretching his left hand in a sweeping motion and five finger point. A close-up of his intense expression with fire in his eyes and a wild-fire of an aura behind him. 

We see various characters in the crowd, each standing out with unique hair styles, clothing, and posture. Some stand tall and proud like elite soldiers, some look smug and superior looking down their nose at the students around them, some also have a fire in their eyes and a look of hunger for competition nearly foaming at the mouth, some look bored and distracted playing with their nails as if this is just a trivial effort to them. 

“By surviving your first year you’ve all taken a great first step toward becoming the chosen few.” 

“However.” [word bubbles over character shots described in above paragraph]

“It will only get tougher. Many of the faces I see now will not make it to graduation, and some will not make it through the year.” He looks down at the glass figuring on the podium and purposely brushes it off the edge with the back of his hand. It falls in slow motion against a solid black background, once it hits the ground it obliterates into a spectacular spray of shards and fragments. A beautiful image with a sinister subtext. 

Shot of some students looking down, dejected, facial expressions of anxiety and defeat. Rankings and driver scores float above their heads, showing they are the bottom ranked of the class, some driver scores barely managing in the single digits.

“This pressure placed on you all is immense and ever increasing.” 

Another shot of the crowd, a majority of people look demotivated and anxious, heads down turned with single beads of sweat down the side of their faces. We see Anni and Reina again, Anni’s initial awe is replaced with slight unease, her posture is similar to how it was during her initial excitement but more limp and with noticeably less life. 

“You must steel your resolve!” Hampton says increasing in intensity once more, his voice booming across the auditorium.

“Just as air and fuel are crushed within the inhospitable confines of an engine’s cylinders, just as that volatile mixture is ignited and harnessed to accelerate forward, you too shall endure the inhospitable and transform it into the force that propels you toward to your ambitions!”

Dramatic shot of piston in an engine cylinder compressing a swirling mixture of air and fuel, the piston is heavily motion blurred, emphasizing its rapid upward movement. A dramatic shot of the piston reaching the top of its stroke and a large flame-front igniting and expanding to fill the cylinder, forcing the piston back down 

“Now show me your determination.” He says in a low, stern voice. An extreme closeup of only his hard, burning eyes with dramatic shadows cast from the structure and folds of his face.

The crowd cheers in a standing ovation. Reina stays seated clapping happily

Anni stands with a somber expression, thinking ‘what is my determination?’ Isolated on black background

[To be continued]


	6. En Route

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With little time to recover from the intense orientation session, the girls find themselves thrust into their first big trial of the semester.

The crowd erupts into a feverous cheer, some students standing up, fists in the air. The energy in the room is electrifying.   
Hampton reigns in the crowd motioning with his hands for them to calm and sit down. As the fervor calms he continues. 

“And so, with another year comes another step toward the realization of your goals. As is tradition, your second year marks the start of your involvement within the Interdisciplinary Motorsport Talent Development Program. In this program you all will compete in championships of various divisions as your own self-sufficient student race teams.”

“Drivers.” 

We see a panel of Anni and Reina sitting up straight in their chairs, eyes fixed ahead on Hampton.

“Engineers”

We see a panel of a girl with tired eyes and long messy hair in an oversized white lab coat sitting in the crowd, her posture is leaned forward with her chin resting against both palms and her elbows propped against her knees. Around her are other similarly dressed students, some with thick rimmed glasses, button-up short sleeves, suspenders, and bow ties.

“Fabricators”

We see a panel of a tall girl with her hair in a messy bun leaned back in her seat, legs crossed, and one elbow propped against the seat back. She is wearing a pair of jean overalls with a loose white t-shirt underneath, both are streaked with grease stains and dirt. She’s surrounded by other rough-and-tumble looking students with tattoos, stained clothes, scars, and lots of body hair.

“Managers” 

We see a panel of a girl in frilly, high-collar white button-up and straight black skirt. Her hair is tied into curly twin-tails with two slender black ribbons. She sits one leg crossed tightly over the other with her hands folded together in her lap. Around her students in various levels of dress form business casual polos and slacks to full three-piece suits and ties. 

“Your success in this academy and the world at large will rest heavily on the interplay of your skills and personalities. If you falter here then you’re no fit for this industry.” 

A short pause, wide shot over the dead silent crowd. 

He claps his hands together switching into a cheerful mood.

“Alright! With that, it’s time to split up. From here on please proceed to the locations defined for your degree plan as per the pre-season announcement.”

He pauses, looking over the crowd, everyone is still in their seats. He waves his hands upward signaling to the students.

“You’re dismissed! Go!” 

The crowd of students rises to their feet in an ununiform fashion, trickling out of the auditorium. The room fills with the sound of shuffling feet and idle chatter.  
Reina leans over to Anni and nudges her with her elbow as the two gather their things and prepare to leave. 

“What was with that rapid mood shift?” Reina jokes. 

Anni swats her away distractedly, she looks confused and lost in thought. Reina pokes her in the face, her finger sinking into Anni’s soft cheeks.

“You goooood~?” Reina asks, catching Anni’s attention finally.

Anni mumbles something while looking down and avoiding eye contact.

“Hmmmm? I couldn’t heeear youuu~” Reina says holding a hand to her ear and leaning in closer to Anni. 

“I didn’t get what he meant by pre-season announcement…” Anni repeats herself, still looking down, slightly flustered. 

Reina plops a hand on Anni’s shoulder, giving her an ‘oh you poor thing’ look.

“It was an email.” Reina says feigning a serious tone, like a doctor telling a patient they don’t have long to live.

“An email?” Anni replies, looking up at her.

“Yup. A mass email.” Reina says while nodding with her eyes closed. She drops her hand from Anni’s shoulder and slings her bag over her own, leading the way out of the auditorium. Anny follows to her side. 

“Ahaha, well that explains it…” Anni says. Scratching the back of her head, a guilty expression on her face. ”I haven’t checked my email in months.”  
She pulls out her phone and opens the email app. 5283 unread messages. Anni makes a disgusted face before shoving it back in her bag. 

Reina lets out a sigh, stops walking, and puts her hands on her hips. She leans forward and wags a finger at Anni like a mother scolding a child.

“Maybe if you didn’t order so much useless junk online you wouldn’t bloat your inbox with newsletters from random companies!”   
A giant cartoon arrow pierces through Anni’s torso as she doubles over in pain, illustrating how Reina’s scolding wounds her.

“What if a professor sent an email about an exam date change? Are you trying to flunk out this semester?” Reina continues scolding, her cheeks puffed up.

Another arrow through Anni. Reina takes in a deep breath, about to continue laying it on, but Anni reaches out and tugs the lower corner of Reina’s cardigan. 

“Please. I get it” Anni says huddled over in pain, her pleading eyes a wobbly shape not unlike fried sunny-side up eggs.

Reina chuckles and rustles Anni’s hair playfully before continuing walking.

“Haha, alright I guess you’ve had enough. Here.”

She hands Anni her phone with the email announcement pulled up. Inbox unread messages: zero. On the screen is a wall of text in several tall paragraphs. Anni skims through it, scrolling down the dense email with a blank expression. She looks back up at Reina with the same blank look and hands back the phone. 

“Its too long I don’t wanna read.” 

Reina looks down at the phone, looks up at Anni, raises her index finger to Anni’s forehead and flicks her dead center. 

“GAH” she recoils in pain, falling behind Reina’s walking pace. A little wisp of smoke emanating from the point of impact. She rubs the sore spot on her forehead and catches back up to Reina, a small tear hanging from the corner of one eye. Reina looks back at her with an ominous closed-eyed smile. Anni gets the message. 

“Could you please explain it to me verbally oh Honorable Scholar Kobayashi?” she says bowing her head, holding Reina’s phone up to her with both hands like a sacred offering. 

“Oh jeez when you say it like that…” Reina chuckles a little and grabs her phone.

“So basically, they’re having the different degree plans split up for various prep related things.” Reina says.

Anni has a hand placed on her chin in a pensive expression, nodding twice at the end of every sentence Reina says. 

“For example, Engineers and Fabricators are picking up equipment and software licenses, Managers are getting budget briefings, and we’re headed to a practical aptitude test.” Reina continues.

Anni nods twice again, then catches herself.

“Wait. Aptitude test? What? Why?” She asks, confused.

“This is just what I heard, but apparently there were a bunch of conflicts last year between drivers over who wanted to be named number one for their team. So! Now Admin is instituting some sort of aptitude test to determine driver order.” Reina explains. 

“Okay yeah but like, what kind of aptitude test??” Anni asks, still confused.

“You’d know if you read the email.” Reina shoots back with a smile, not missing a beat.

“I’m actually going to strangle you” Anni says, eyes squinted, and hands raised in choking position.

“Haha kidding! Kidding!” Reina says, quickening her pace and moving to the left to try to put distance between her and Anni.

“It actually didn’t say. But maybe it’s some sort of track event? Considering its being held at one of the Circuits.” Reina says, slowing her pace allowing Anni to catch back up. The girls exit through a set of metal double doors, the blinding outside light pouring into the frame. 

On the other side of the door, the girls squint and cover their eyes from the bright sunlight. Once their eyes adjust we see the two of them standing at the back of a small crowd of drivers within the paddock area of a massive race track. Imposing grandstands and glass architecture tower over the section of track, with high-rises on either side connected by an enormous skyway overhead. The grandstands are filled with excited spectators, chomping at the bit to get a view of the new semester’s first competitive action.

We see an overhead wide shot panel looking down at the paddock area. The girls and crowd of drivers are tiny in the scale of the landscape. Along the pit lane wall to the right are six race-prepped convertible sports cars, the Mazda ND MX-5 Global Cup, lined up diagonally facing outward.  
“Looks like you’re right as usual, Reina”

[To be continued]


	7. Introductions and Reunions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As tensions rise and old grudges resurface at the Driver Course beginning-of-year trial, Engineering and Manufacturing Course students size each other up for the first time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Thank you so much for taking the time to read these chapters! 
> 
> Please feel free to leave any criticisms harsh or not. This is a bit of a passion project for me and I want to improve my writing as much as possible. 
> 
> I'm starting to get into the habit of posting regularly so expect new chapters every Sunday night!
> 
> Thank you again!!!

The scene opens at an industrial warehouse area lined with endless loading docks. Semi-trucks come and go, parking against the docks to unload their cargo. Pallets of large, expensive equipment and tools are pulled from the unloading trucks. A sea of students in small groups scramble around carrying boxes and towing pallets of equipment. The energy is hectic. In contrast to the frenzy, there is a standing crowd of students waiting for their turn to collect their disbursement.

A tall, lean girl in dirt-covered jean overalls and a loose white t-shirt stands at the back of the waiting crowd. She rests against the wall while names are called, bored and spinning a small wrench air and catching it. She tosses the wrench again. It’s the highest its gone yet, almost touching the 20 foot ceiling. 

“Lora More, Emelie Euler. Report to Paddock 12 for disbursement.” A tall, muscular man in a suit and sunglasses calls out over a megaphone. He stands atop a wooden crate towering above the crowd. He would’ve been tall enough to see even without the box. 

The call catches Lora’s attention, making her forget about the wrench. It comes back down and nail her smack in the center of the head. Its super effective.

Lora arrives at a roped off area packed with pallets waiting to be claimed marked Paddock 12, rubbing the top of her head where a large bump has formed. there is an Academy rep standing next to a large pallet of shipping wrapped supplies. The rep is holding a clipboard with several documents and flipping between them. Lora and another girl approach the rep but are not acknowledged by the rep engrossed in her work. They stand around awkwardly for a minute, Emelie avoiding eye contact and appearing small, Lora hands in her pockets swinging a leg back and forth while whistling. They both work up the courage to introduce themselves at the same time, interrupting each other in unison.

“Hey I’m-”  
“Hello my na-“

They both hurriedly stop to let the other person talk, but just create another painful pause. 

“Oh god I’m being so awkward” Lora thinks to herself internally cringing 

Emelie is looking away, her face red from embarrassment. Lora takes a deep breath and swallows her insecurity. She turns back to Emelie, extending her hand for a hand shake.

“’Sup I’m Lora!” Lora says to her. Emelie is already overwhelmed by the social interaction. Her face is beet red and her eyes are spirals. On her forehead is an old-school looking half-circle gauge split into thirds; they read “nominal”, “elevated”, and “meltdown imminent”. The needle is bouncing off the limit of “meltdown imminent”. 

“Emelie right?” Lora says, her hand still outstretched left hanging. She tries to feign a comforting smile. 

Emelie recovers slightly at hearing her own name, though still flustered. She nods to answer Lora, turning back to her slightly. Lora looks down at her unshaked hand, then back up to Emelie. A beat. She quickly switches her open palm to a thumbs-up. Nice save.

“It’s nice to meet’cha Em!” Lora beams at her, scratching the back of her head. 

A small smile forms at the corner of Emelie’s mouth. She’s still flustered but the redness has gone from full-face tomato to rosy-cheek blush. She’s drawn with a lot of detail over a flowery backdrop like some romance manga. Now Lora’s cheeks turn bright.

“Ohhh fuck she’s cute.” She thinks to herself, face flustered and drawn on a background of sparks and lightening.

There’s a long pause of Lora just staring at Emelie. Emelie looks back at Lora kinda confused at her reaction. Her head is cocked to one side and a question mark and “…” hovers above her head. 

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Back at the racetrack we see establishing shots of the track layout and grandstands packed with energetic fans waving flags of various nationalities and other signs. 

“We’re here live at the Circuit Edith Johnson at Audubon Motorsports Academy for the kickoff of another exciting academic season. I’m Daniil Kross.”  
“And I’m Alaina Gold”  
The pair of announcers speak into their respective desk microphones in their booth overlooking the track. Daniil is a middle-aged man with short, graying hair and pronounced wrinkles. Especially around his mouth. Alaina is a late-twenties woman with jet black, straight hair cut in a bob with straight bangs. A pair of thick-rimmed square glasses, too big for her face, hang on the bridge of her nose, slipping down periodically.

“It’s the start of a new season which means incoming high-school division first year drivers get to cut their teeth in their first on-track battle.” Alaina says, pushing her glasses back up her face. They slip back down again.

“That’s right. Through the junior division they’ve learned the fundamentals of racing lines, car control, and race craft but the high-school division is where they put all that into practice, so expectations are high to impress in front of faculty and eager fans alike.” Daniil says.

A shot of imposing, professor-looking figures standing trackside holding clipboards ready to take notes. Their wardrobes range from mixes of lab coats and formal business attire. Quadcopter drones with TV cameras mounted to their underside buzz above and around the track as well.

“Unlike a typical race-weekend, today’s event is a back-to-back schedule of 60 minutes for free practice, 30 minutes qualifying, and a 15 lap sprint race.” Alaina says.

“With 20-minute breaks between each session.” Daniil adds.

“This’ll be the first glimpse at the up-and-coming talent of this generation of drivers. Whoever lands in the top ten will certainly be ones to watch for the rest of the season.” Alaina says, her word bubbles overlaid on a wide shot of the group of drivers in the paddock area with the line of cars in the foreground. 

In the group Reina and Anni are standing at the back. At the center of the group stands an administrator. He’s an older guy wearing a short sleeve polo dripping in corporate sponsor logos. His eyes are covered by a pair of reflective aviator sunglasses, his upper lip is adorned with a mustache that could probably sweep floors, and on his head is a “tastefully” designed baseball cap with bald eagles and the letters “DIFD” embroidered across the front. Despite his age he is in solid physical shape. His posture is confident and powerful. 

“That concludes the driver’s meeting.” He says, arms crossed. His booming voice echoes across the gathering of students. 

“As your names are called a car number will be assigned. After that get yer’ ass in gear and suit up fer free practice.” He says pulling a messily folded piece of paper from his back pocket, unfolding it, and reading the list aloud.

Reina turns to Anni and whispers in her ear. 

“I sure hope I get number 69” she says with an overexaggerated *wink wink*

Anni pretends she didn’t hear her.

Reina gets closer to Anni’s face, making the kind of shit eating grin expression like when you say just the absolute worst type of pun. 

“Come one. 69? Get it?” Reina prods.

Anni, trying to remain stoic, “How old are you again?”

“Why I’m the ripe old age of 69 years old, my dear! Back in my day we didn’t have all this newfangled junk like helmets and child labor laws.” Reina says back, impersonating an old lady and wagging her index finger in the air.

“You need to take you meds grandma, you’re going senile” Anni says with a smile like she’s having fun.  
“Reina Kobayashi.” the admin calls out.

Reina’s ears perk up as she listens for her assigned number.

“Number 68”  
She deflates, looking dejected.

“I was so close.” She says to Anni  
“You’re a child” Anni says back 

“A child that’s going to kick your ass in the race!” Reina calls out with a smile, waving back to Anni as she heads into the garage area to get changed.  
“You wish!” Anni calls back.

The admin clears his throat loudly, his sunglasses far down enough on his nose to see his stern eyes draped in heavy shadow.  
“Anni Hekkinen.” He says in his booming voice.

“Yes!” Anni squeaks, straightening up, only just realizing how loud she and Reina had been.  
“Number 69.”   
The group of students each try to stifle their own laughter, looking down, biting lips, biting fingers. 

“that’s the sex number.” Someone in the crowd lets slip quietly.

 

An overhead view of the track with a handful of cars pulling onto the track from the pitlane. 

“Free practice is underway. For the next 60 minutes drivers will be trying to get as many hot laps in as they can to get familiar with both the track conditions and the cars as well as make any setup changes.” Daniil says, his word bubble overlaid on the aerial view of the track, a cartoony version of his face on the corner of the bubble to signify its him talking.

“Thankfully the track surface has mostly dried from this morning’s rain, but drivers’ll still want to watch out for the damp grass and rumble strips.” Alaina adds in, also overlaid with her cartoon head next to the bubble. 

A shot of a car zooming down the start-finish straightaway with another two cars behind at near equally spaced intervals. The crowd in the grandstands are cheering and waving banners with country flags and driver names. 

“Number 12 Sato Nakamura posts the first time of the session with a 2 minutes 53 seconds. Good pace, but let’s see how the other drivers stack up.”

Anni is in the garage partially dressed in racing gear. The upper portion of her jumpsuit is unzipped and tied around her waist, exposing the white, fireproof t-shirt underneath. She is silently weaving her hair into braids as the sounds of cars on track echo into the shadow-cast garage. She fastens the last hair tie to the end of her braid and slips on her full-face helmet, her eyes are obscured in shadow. She unties the jumpsuit and slips her arms into the sleeves, zipping It up, and slipping on her racing gloves. Her hands are shaking. She tightly grasps one hand over the other, trying to steady her tremors, and quickly exits the garage. 

“Almost all drivers are out on track now except for number 69 Anni Heikkinen and number 75 Winston Sussex.” Alaina says looking through a pair of binoculars.  
An over the shoulder shot of Anni approaching her car from the rearview mirror of a car in front. Its Winston. Sitting. Watching. Waiting. 

Anni, focused only on herself, climbs into her car and straps into the 4-point harness. A track martial comes to the drivers side of the car and pulls HARD on the tensioning straps of the harness. Anni is cinched tightly into the seat. He then hands her the steering wheel, which she takes and inserts onto the steering column quick release with her head pointed forward, unmoving, a thousand yard stare into the distance. She angles her head back, looking up to the sky. Her eyes shut tightly as she takes in a long, deep breath. Her grip on the steering wheel tightens, wrinkling the fabric of her gloves. She lets out the breath slow and jagged. Her tense eyes open.

She flips the dashboard toggle switch labeled “ignition” from the “off” position to on, kicks the clutch pedal to the floor, and pushes the engine start button. 

A shot of the engine within the engine bay. We see a cutaway of the fuel injectors spraying fuel into the cylinders, the fuel air mixture being compressed by the piston, sparked, and the flames of combustion forcing the pistons down. A pop of flame bursts out of the tip of the exhaust pipe as the engine roars to life. 

A track martial standing forward of the car to the right holds what looks like a large metal lollipop in front of the car. On it says the car’s number and in big bold letters “STOP”. He spins the lollipop to reveal the other side, also with the car’s number, but with the word “GO” written. Anni throws the car in first gear and takes off down the pitlane as the martial lifts the lollipop up and out of the way. 

We see Anni’s car driving down the pitlane from the perspective of Winston’s rearview mirrors. He follows the car with his eyes as she passes his stationary car. The track martial ahead of him smacks the hood of his car.

“Hey what are you waiting for? You’re green. Go go go!” the martial shouts to him.

Winston does not respond to the martial. Beneath the helmet he has a twisted expression his face. His eyes a wildfire burning with malice. 

“She made a fool of me in front of everyone. She’ll pay dearly for that humiliation.” He thinks to himself, flashing back to the incident where Anni stood up to him in chapter 4. He’s drawn over a dark chaotic background.

[To be continued]


	8. Free Practice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anni and company venture on track for the first time of the semester. Gasoline burns, flames pop, and plans are set in motion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo! I know I said I was going to update every Sunday but then I went and uploaded late immediately after haha. Please forgive!
> 
> I'll keep the chapters coming I promise

Anni exits the paddock garage, her right hand clutched to her chest. Her breathing is rapid and shallow. Her eyes and facial expression hidden beneath her full-face helmet. She wordlessly climbs into her car and straps into the 4-point harness. A track martial comes to the drivers side of the car and pulls HARD on the tensioning straps of the harness cinching her tightly into the seat. Her hyperventilation becomes more exaggerated. We see her messily gasping for breath beneath her helmet. Her grip on the steering wheel tightens, and her vision narrows into a dark tunnel. 

“Hey” a soft female voice crackles through Anni’s radio.

“You’re not gonna freak out and dip before we’ve even had a chance to fight are you?” the voice continues.

“Reina?” Anni says, regaining some control of herself.

“Bingo!” Reina says over the radio while barreling through the third to last corner, a high speed left, at full throttle.

“I can only imagine what you’re feeling right now but just try to remember how good it feels to feel the g’s against the seat and don’t let the fear control you.”

“I don’t know if I can” Anni says looking down at her shaking hands and shutting her eyes tightly.

“Yes. You can. Focus on that feeling and nothing else.” Reina says, wrestling with the wheel at the exit of the turn.

Anni lets out the breath slow and jagged. Her tense eyes open, showing an intense gleam. A sudden sense of calm comes over her. 

“Okay” she says.  
Anni flips the toggle switch on the dashboard labeled “ignition” from the “off” position to on and depresses the clutch pedal to the floor. With one finger she pushes the engine start button. 

A shot of the engine within the engine bay. We see a cutaway of the fuel injectors spraying fuel into the cylinders, the fuel air mixture being compressed by the piston, sparked, and the flames of combustion forcing the pistons down. A pop of flame bursts out of the tip of the exhaust pipe as the engine roars to life.   
“I can do this”

A track martial standing forward of the car to the right holds what looks like a large metal lollipop in front of the car. On it says the car’s number and in big bold letters “STOP”. He spins the lollipop to reveal the other side, also with the car’s number, but with the word “GO” written. Anni throws the car in first gear and takes off down the pitlane as the martial lifts the lollipop up and out of the way. 

“There ya go that’s the right stuff! Now hurry up and get out here before I get bored!”

“Speaking of, shouldn’t you be focusing on your own lap?”

“Mmmm, I think I’ve got this pretty well under control so far.”

Reina is navigating through the final sector of the track. She’s full throttle at the exit of the second to last turn down a short straightaway to the final hairpin turn. Her eyes fixate on the braking distance markers to the right of the track. She passes the 250m mark. Still full throttle. 200m. Full throttle, 110mph 

“3… 2…” Reina thinks to herself, eyes on the apex of the approaching turn now.

150m passes.

“1…”  
Speeding toward the 100m mark.

“NOW!” She thinks to herself, her expression becoming wild. She moves her foot from the gas to the brake in a fraction of a second, pressing as hard as she can without locking up the front wheels. The deceleration throws her forward into her harness. The entire car pitches forward under braking, the brake discs glowing hot. 

50m passes. 

Reina heel-toe downshifts into 2nd gear and eases off the brake pedal while simultaneously turning the wheel into the turn. The car’s weight settles back evenly on all four wheels. Her foot completely off the brake she turns the car harder in toward the apex, landing the two inside tires squarely on the edge of the curb. The car’s weight leans onto the outside tires. Past the apex, she smoothly eases onto the the throttle while straightening out the wheel, completing a perfectly composed line through the hairpin. She flies down the final straightaway toward the start/finish line. 

From the announcer’s booth, Daniil and Alaina watch the action through binoculars. Reina is exiting the final corner.

“Reina Kobayashi in the number 68 is one to watch today wouldn’t you say Ally?.” Daniil says. 

Reina’s speed climbs. She shifts up into third gear. Then fourth.

“Oh definitely. With the way she handled the final sector that lap I wouldn’t be surprised if it put her up in the top 3 times for the session.” Alaina says.

Fifth gear. 

Reina roars passed the start-finish line, sending pits of rubber and dust from the track flying.

“Across the line. Does Kobayashi top the time sheets?” Daniil pauses waiting for the lap time rankings to update. 

A massive digital ranking board looms above the start/finish straight. On it are 10 names listed, showing the ranks 21-30. Anni, Reina, and Winston are the only ones without recorded lap times. The board updates, scrolling upward to ranks 1-10, Reina’s naming stopping at the number one slot. 1:43.522. The second fastest time is over a second slower. 

“She does! What a lap that was as well!” He exclaims, his hands shooting into the air. 

 

“Well there it is folks, the bar has just been raised. Will that time stand or can someone manage to show even more pace?” Alaina says, her word bubble on a panel of Anni’s car exiting the pit lane at the exit of turn 2. Reina’s car flies passed ahead of Anni before she joins onto the track. Close behind is Winston.

 

Winston and Anni both get on the throttle at the same time accelerating onto the track between turns 3 and 4 with a constant gap between them. Going into turn 4 Winston is on Anni’s tail and edging closer.

 

“These cars aren’t too powerful but if I tuck into her slipstream on the straights I should be able to gain an advantage over her.” He thinks to himself. We see a visual representation of the airflow over the two cars, the smooth incoming air hitting Anni’s car, creating pressure drag and spiraling out into wild vortices leaving a low-pressure area behind her car and less air resistance for Winston following behind.

 

He’s almost on her bumper as they approach turn 5. Winston brakes first, then Anni. Anni swoops her car cleanly in toward the apex and out of the turn, carrying lots of speed, while Winston struggles to get his car turned in. He loses grip in his front tires and goes slightly wide, costing himself time and speed. The gap to Anni is growing. 

 

eading up to the high-speed left hand turn 6, the gap to Anni is a few car lengths.

“That was just one bad turn. So long as I execute the lap perfectly I’ll catch that degenerate.” Winston thinks aloud, attempting to reassure himself.

“Mmmm okay everything’s probably warmed up enough by now.” Anni thinks while mid yawn. 

Into turn 6 Winston brakes for a moment. Anni does not. She lifts the throttle slightly before throwing the car into the fast kink, executing an almost surgical line through the turn. The back end of the car tries to slide out slightly but she keeps it under control with quick adjustments to the steering wheel.   
Winston follows the same line but not even remotely as fast. Anni begins to disappear in front of him as they both head up the hill toward the corkscrew. Down through the corkscrew the pattern repeats. The two take similar lines, but Anni does so with more speed. Each subsequent turn Anni gets farther and farther ahead of Winston.

Anni floors it out of the final hairpin towards her first flying lap of the session. The car’s suspension unloads as she goes over the crest in the start/finish straight, almost catching air. The suspension absorbs most of the impact when it comes back down.

Winston is only just exiting the final hairpin.

“I’m barely able to keep pace? Even on the out-lap??” He thinks to himself shaken and sweating profusely under his helmet.

“Its seems I'll have to resort to... those arrangements…” He continues.

Inside a dark room filled with screens, data, and headphone clad employees pouring over every piece of media, a middle aged man in a pressed white dress shirt stands confidently above the others. On the left breast of his shirt above a detailed embroidery of the academy's crest reads the words 'Race Director'. He watches the on-track action unfold from different angles on the wall of screens. 

[To be continued]


	9. Warehouse Scramble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Anni has her hands full on track, new students Lora and Emelie endure a stressful situation of their own

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapters every Sunday/Monday night!

Anni flies through the fast turn 1 onto the short straight before the turn 2 hairpin. She’s quiet and focused. She glances down at her gauge cluster. 113mph. She looks back up. The 100m marker passes.

“Shit!” she yells slamming on the brakes.

The car pitches forward hard, locking up the left front wheel. Anni tries to recover from the lockup by modulating the brake pressure, but its not enough to slow the car down in time. She goes wide into the turn, sliding off into the dirt at the outside of the turn.

  
Anni keeps the car moving forward. The bumpy dirt surface shakes and rattles the car around, tossing Anni back and forth in her seat. She fights to keep the car under control on the rough terrain.

  
Winston comes up on the turn 2 hairpin, braking a little too early, but only costing himself some of the additional speed he could have carried through the turn. As he looks in toward the exit of the turn he sees Anni struggling to keep her car straight. Winston’s eyes light up at the sight.

  
“Oh this is perfect!” He thinks with a creepy, mile wide grin as he blows passed Anni.

  
Anni gets the car back on track, coughing and covered in dirt from her off-road expedition. She wipes the thick film of dirt from her helmet visor and focuses back in on the road in front of her. Winston is already far down the road.

  
Anni lets out a disappointed sigh. “Ugh, at least there’s next lap.” She thinks aloud.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back in the warehouse district Emelie stands at Lora’s side as the academy rep hands Lora a thick manila envelope stamped “OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS”. The rep stands tall and confident, her serious expression partially covered her dark sunglasses. She dressed in an immaculately pressed business suit and mirror polished black heels. A slight frown curled at the edge of her lips.

  
“I’m getting some mad bitchy vibes” Lora thinks to herself looking up at the rep from the massive envelope of papers. A dark, intimidating aura emanates from around the woman.

  
“Enclosed are shop keys, disbursement forms, lease agreements, and software licenses. You’re required fill them out and submit to the Admin building by the end of the business day.” The rep says straightening her midnight black blazer.  
She turns away to leave and then stops, looking over her shoulders at the two girls.

  
“One more thing. You have until 14:30 to consolidate your items and clear out for the next group. That is all.” She faces away from the girls and continues on her way. Her confident stride is interrupted by a piece of steel square tube lying on thing ground, on which she trips and whips to the floor in spectacular fashion.  
The rep, on all fours and sunglasses dangling by one ear, turns around to check if Lora and Emelie saw. They saw. She has a look on her face of a child caught stealing from the cookie jar.

  
Lora waves to her, 10 feet away.  
“You good?” Lora calls out.

  
Flustered and nervous, the rep hurriedly picks herself up off the floor, dusts herself off, and makes a run for it, all while shouting back.  
“Y-yes thank you!”  
She’s long gone in the constantly shifting crowd. In her haste she left behind her organizational binder. It’s black, leather, and EXPENSIVE looking.  
Lora walks over and picks it up off the ground.

  
“Holy crap this thing looks like it’d cost a pretty penny. Bet I could sell it online easy! No more microwave cup ramen this month.” Lora thinks to herself, a drip of drool hanging from the corner of her mouth as she fantasizes about having slightly fancier instant ramen that you cook over the stove.

  
Emelie stares a hole into her, as if she knows what Lora’s thinking. Lora catches her stare and lets out a sigh.  
“Yeah, yeah I hear ya. We should turn it in to Admin when we submit our forms, right?” Lora says.  
Emelie gives a solid nod.

  
Lora flips the leather binder over to its front, revealing the custom embroidered name in the bottom right corner. Karen S Cho.  
“God that’s tacky” Both Lora and Emelie think to themselves in unison.

  
“Guess we can just set this on pile for now…” Lora says while turning to face the pallet load of equipment and tools disbursed to their team. It towers over the two of them menacingly, dwarfing them in its immense shadow.  
“Gotta do this all ourselves, huh?” Lora says thinking aloud.  
Emelie tugs on Lora’s overalls from the side.  
“Lora” she says softly.  
“Yes Em?” Lora says turning towards her, putting on her best suave romance novel protagonist face over a background of sunshine and blooming flowers. You could almost imagine a rose between her teeth.  
Emelie holds up her phone for Lora to read, the screen shows the clock at 14:15.  
“15 minutes left.” Emelie says.

  
Lora’s face goes from suave to pants-shitting in microseconds. Inside her head panic mode activates.

  
“F-f-fifteen????” Lora asks dumbfounded.

  
“Oh god. What? Ohhh no Oh god how are we going to move all this ohh god oh fuck oh there’s no way… theres no way! what are we going to do how are we… shit. Fuck! 15?? ohhhhhhh my god” Lora mumbles to herself while pacing and gripping at the hair on her head.

  
Emelie is becoming visibly more uncomfortable by the minute. Lora’s panic attack passing onto her, she starts to tremble and get wide eyed.  
Lora catches a glimpse of the distressed Emelie amid her pacing. She stops in her tracks.  
“Ah shit I’m only making things worse here. This isn’t a good look for me. I gotta–I gotta come up with something.” Lora thinks to herself striking The Thinker pose while tightly squinting her eyes closed as if it were to somehow give her better ideas.  
A lightbulb appears over her head and her face lights up. She grabs the trembling Emelie by the shoulders, giving her a good shake to snap her out of panic mode, if only for a moment.

  
“Em its gonna be okay. I got an idea. Just hold down the fort.” Lora says to her making direct eye contact.  
Emelie gives her a determined nod. Lora lets go of her shoulders and sprints out into the sea of people.

  
A forklift drives slowly through a cleared path carrying a large load of crated equipment as Lora frantically chases after waving her hands like a drowning victim. The driver sees her in his rear view mirror, and against his better judgement, stops to the vehicle. Lora comes along side the forklift, out of breath.  
“I don’t have a lot of time here, so please make it quick.” The forklift driver says to her. The name David is embroidered in cursive across the breast of his dark blue coveralls.

  
“Please” *gasp* “Can you” *gasp* “help us move” *gasp* “a pallet” Lora asks gripping onto the side of the forklift as if her life depended on it.

  
“David get yer ass down here we got more trucks that need unloading” A voice crackles over the radio clipped to his lapel.

  
“Look, I can’t help you unless you fill out an official request and get in line with everyone else. You’re not the only one that has stuff to haul.” David says, looking over his shoulder at a packed line of students in front of a booth labeled “Forklift Work Requests”.

  
“David!” The radio voice says, more aggravated this time.  
David leans into his radio.  
“I hear you. Be right there.”

  
Lora lets go of the forklift, deflated. David continues down his original path.

  
“Hey! Maybe give the Hydraulic Pallet Lift Rentals a try!” he calls out back to her. Lora immediately perks back up.  
“Thank you!!” She shouts just before heading out in a full sprint.  
“Wait. Where even is the rental place?” She thinks to herself mid stride.

  
Lora stops and asks for directions from various bystanders who point her in the right direction. Eventually she comes up to the rental booth, once again out of breath. She looks up as the clerk is putting up an “Out of Stock” sign. She meets eyes with the clerk who gives a solemn shake of the head.  
Lora looks down at her phone.

14:25.

  
“What are we going to do?” She says to herself, looking down. Her cheeks flush red as she tries to hold back tears.  
“I have to get back.” She says wiping her eyes on her sleeve and starting a sprint.  
Lora arrives back at Paddock 12 covered in sweat and gasping for air. She falls to her knees immediately after coming to a stop. She looks down at the ground, her sweat dripping onto the asphalt.

  
“Lora” Emelie says.

  
Lora can’t bear to look at her. Her face tightens in self-inflicted anguish.  
“I know. We’re almost out of time. I’m sorry I couldn’t—” Lora says balling her fists on the ground  
“No. look.” Emelie says interrupting her pity party.  
Lora looks up at Emelie for the first time since getting back. She sees Emelie standing there pointing with both hands at an object like a new car salesman would a top-of-the-line model on the show floor.

It’s a pallet jack!

  
It’s a manual one, and its old and beat up at that. The paint is chipped and pealing, the handle appears to have broken and been re-welded in places, and the front caster wheels look like they’d been used as a dog’s chew toy for a number of years.

  
“Shit I’ll take it!” Lora says finding the strength to pick herself off the floor.  
She comes up behind Emelie, who's still mid-pose, and picks her up by the waist.  
“H-huh?” Emelie squeaks. But she doesn’t resist.

  
Lora plops her down onto their pallet of equipment and in lightning speed slides the jack under the pallet and lifts the massive load.  
With gritted teeth and popping veins she digs her heels into the pavement and pulls the tower of gear behind her.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back on track Anni is only a couple car lengths behind Winston heading into the final hairpin. Down the star/finish straight Winston is to the right side of the track on the racing line. He sees Anni exiting the final turn in his rearview mirror and lifts off the throttle.

  
Anni, still barreling down the straight at full throttle quickly closes the gap to Winston and moves over to the left side of the track pass him before turn 1. Just as she is coming alongside, Winston’s eyes light up with malice. Like a boa constrictor poised to strangle its prey.

  
He quickly, and without warning, jerks his car to the left cutting off Anni’s path. Anni instinctively reacts, moving further to the left to avoid a rear-end collision with Winston.

 

  
Time slows down.

To the right is Winston,

to the left is the concrete pit wall.

There’s nowhere to go.

 

[To be continued]


	10. Cat and Mouse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anni is caught in the talons of a dirty-playing opponent. With the the session at stake and time running out she comes up with a plan to turn the tables.

Winston is closing in from the right. Anni is blocked off by the pit wall to the left. She slams on the brakes swerving closer to the wall. Anni is squeezed up against the wall, her left side mirror shearing off the car. It flies off behind the car in a spectacular shower of shattered glass and plastic.

 

Winston’s rear bumper narrowly grazes the front of Anni’s as he closes the gap to the wall completely. Anni breathes heavily at the shock of the near miss. Her hands shake against the steering wheel.

Spectators in the grandstands recoil in shock as the event replays over the large stadium screens.

 

“Oof! What on earth was he thinking!” Daniil commentates, wincing over the near-miss action replay.

“Honestly, that’s more than careless. That’s just downright reckless.” Alaina says shaking her head.

“The stewards are currently investigating Sussex. Surely, he’ll be getting some type of penalty, don’t you think?” Daniil says turning to Alaina.

“Undoubtedly. I’d be shocked if he gets off with anything less than a 10 second race penalty.” Alaina says.

               

In a dark control room, lit only by the light of a wall of screens, a man in slacks and white dress shirt stands at the back of the room. The crest of the academy is embroidered into the left breast of his shirt. Around his neck hangs an orange lanyard and badge stating his title, race director. The rest of the room is populated by rows of computers, each filled headphone-clad employees monitoring different data and track feeds.             

The race director stands staring incredulously at the thick envelope in his hands. He opens it, pulling out and reading a small note. He reads the note with wide eyes before peeking out two thick stacks of cash from the envelope and immediately shoving them back inside.

               

“We’re getting word now, that Sussex will in fact NOT be penalized??” Daniil says shocked, standing up from his seat.

“Unbelievable. You’ve got to wonder, in what world does that only get you a reprimand.” Alaina says reciprocating Daniils disbelief.

Anni hears the news over her helmet radio.

“What?!”

“The hell you mean he’s getting off with a reprimand?! He almost put me in the wall!” She shouts back.

“I’m sorry. That was the decision passed down by the race director.” The administrator replies over the radio.

‘For fucks sake’ Anni thinks to herself. She’s close behind Winston. No matter which side of the track she moves toward, he moves to block her off.

‘Something’s not right here’ she thinks to herself starting to sweat. She catches a glimpse of Winston’s eyes burning with hate through his door mirror.

 

The two cars pass through the uphill section toward the corkscrew. The academy director stands behind the trackside barrier, observing the two cars go by. He has an intense expression on his face.

 

‘As an educator, I should put a stop to this.’ He thinks with gritted teeth.

‘But.’

‘If she’s who I think she is, she’ll be able to handle this.’ He thinks. The image of the pendant she wears around her neck flashes in his mind.

               

‘This is bullshit! I’m in survival mode right now. I can’t even focus on learning the track because of this asshole.’ Anni thinks to herself. Her eyes are panicked, and her brow wrinkled.

‘Come on think! I’ve got to figure a way out of this’ She strains.

The tension in her face lifts and her eyes light up with inspiration. ‘Its a gamble, but that might just work’

 

Coming up on the start-finish straight Anni is still trapped behind Winston. She makes a move to the right side, prompting him to do the same. A grin spreads across Anni’s face. She quickly jerks the car back to the left into the pitlane entry road.

‘It was a feint!’ Winston thinks to himself as he sees Anni moving over to the left in slow motion.

He wastes no time, jerking his car to the left as well, barely making it into the pit entry before the dividing wall begins. Both cars slam on their brakes slowing down to the pitlane speed limit. Winston locks up his front tires in dramatic fashion, tire smoke billowing out as they slide across the pavement.

               

Both cars continue down the pitlane calmly. Winston’s car shakes excessively as the tires repeatedly roll onto the newly added flat spots of his tires.  They each pull into their respective paddocks, Winston in front of Anni.

A mechanic comes alongside Winston. He wears a sponsor-covered polo, open face helmet, and mechanic’s gloves. Winston doesn’t acknowledge him, simply focusing on his mirrors.

“Fronts are flat-spotted _bad_. You wanna change ‘em?” The mechanic asks, resting both hands on the door sill.

“Shut up” Winston hisses while waving the man away, not taking his eyes off Anni.

Anni’s car begins to move, pulling out into the pit lane. Winston scrambles to put his car in gear and get moving. He releases the clutch abruptly, spinning his rear tires. Winston emerges ahead of Anni.

‘I had a feeling it wouldn’t be that easy’ Anni thinks to herself with a sigh as they both exit the pit lane back onto the track.

‘Plan B’ she continues.

               

Their engines roar as the two cars accelerate full throttle. Spits of flame shoot from the exhaust pipes as they shift gears from 2nd to 3rd, then 3rd to 4th.  Approaching the fast left turn 7, Anni moves to the inside. Predictably, Winston moves to cover her off.  They approach the braking markers, passing the 200m mark. 150m.

Winston brakes, locking up his front tires again for a moment. Anni seizes the opportunity and jerks to the outside line, braking a split second after Winston. He turns his head to the right to see Anni outside his window. The two cars are side by side going into the turn.

 

“That didn’t work before its not going to work now!” Winston shouts. His expression is one of panic and shaken confidence. 

Exiting the turn Winston squeezes Anni off the track, not leaving a single inch for her to go. She’s forced onto the dirt to keep from colliding with him. The back-end slips around as her tires spin on the loose surface, kicking up a spectacular cloud of debris behind her.

Anni’s car skips across the uneven dirt as she holds the car in a controlled slide. She re-enters the pavement behind Winston, having lost some speed. The sticky racing tires are coated in dirt and pebbles imbedded into the rubber. As she speeds up the rotation of the wheels begins to flick the particles off in every direction.

From the driver’s seat Anni can hear the clicks and thuds of dirt and rocks being flung from the tires against the wheel wells. On the approach to the high-speed kink of turn 8 she steers the car in a swerving motion. Winston sees her moving back and forth in mirrors, unsure of her intent.

 

As Anni swerves, more and more dirt flings off the tires.

               

Into turn 8, Winston brakes, taking the frightening corner cautiously. Anni does not. She steams toward the turn at full throttle, lifts off the gas only for a split second while turning in, and floors it once more powering out of the turn. The back-end of her car steps out of line again at the corner exit, but she catches it with a quick reaction on the steering wheel. Her tires are still slightly dirty.

The extra speed she’s carried through turn 8 has her gaining on Winston through the uphill section. The thuds and clicks of flinging dirt have become more sparse but are still present. She keeps up the swerving maneuver all while closing the gap to Winston.

               

Winston struggles to keep track of her position in his mirror while simultaneously watching where his own car is going.

“Quit moving around damn it!” He says aloud, his eyes darting back and forth from the road to the mirror.

‘Come on. Come on! Almost there.’ She thinks to herself. Her front bumper slips alongside the rear bumper of Winston’s car. Soon Anni is edging ahead.

‘I’ve come this far, I can’t let her best me now.’ Winston thinks to himself. He takes a deep breath, looking at Anni’s car next to his own.

         

      

Anni is watching him from the corner of her eye. The last thud of dirt from the tires sounds off. The tires are back to their clean and sticky state prior to going off track.

               

 

Winston turns the steering wheel hard toward Anni, aiming to hit the rear end of her car and spin her into the wall. Anni sees his front wheels begin to turn in her direction. Winston is committed to his maneuver. 

‘There it is’ She thinks to herself. She slams on the brakes, slowing the car at an incredible rate.

                 

With only millimeters between them Winston’s car slides in front of Anni’s and off into the dirt on the left side of the track.

‘Impossible!’ He thinks to himself. Anni’s quick maneuver has caught him off guard, causing him to quickly correct the car’s course. The low grip of the dirt and his harsh correction upsets the balance of the car, sending it into a spin. He tries to keep the car in control but its too late.

His rear bumper clips the tire wall, sending the car into a violent spin in the other direction. The force of impact tips the car onto two wheels rips the rear bumper from the body of the car like a strip of tin foil. The out of control vehicle hurls back over the pavement across the turn 9 entry. The grippy pavement surface catches the edge of the two outside tires throwing the car into a roll. Winston is hanging from his shoulder straps. His arms are thrown into the again held back only by his arm restraints. Bits of broken plastic and glass fly off the somersaulting car. The passenger door is ripped open and flung around. The mangled car slams into the adjacent tire wall, finally coming to rest on its roof—the driver inside hidden from view.

[To be continued]


	11. Setup

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anni's heated battle with Winston comes to a climactic end and the consequences weigh heavily on everyone down the pit lane. Especially Anni.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp I'm back! After a brief delay I can get back to pumping these out. Hopefully soon we can break 100 hits. And maybe get some comments too (please I beg)

Winston’s car flips and skids across the track just in front of Anni as she turns into the downhill left-right “corkscrew” of turn 9. His car comes to a rest on its roof against the tire barrier to the right as Anni passes the scene of the crash.

 

Almost immediately the track marshals begin waving the red flag at their various posts along the course. Anni lets the car coast, in shock at what she had just been involved in.

“I went forward with this plan knowing he would probably lose control but I never expected it to be THIS bad” she thinks to herself, her eyes wide and pupils narrow.

 

                Anni pulls into the pit lane, stopping at her paddock. She tears off her racing harness and vaults out of the car making a beeline for the event live feed on the TVs within the paddock garage. Standing in front of the screen she scrambles to take off her helmet and balaclava. Her hair is like wildfire, swooped in every which way, chaotic and swirling.

 

                On the live feed, cameras are honed-in on Winston’s upturned car. First responders are arriving at the scene, firetruck and ambulance. Anni and other drivers who have congregated in the paddock garage watch in silent tension as the first responders pry open Winston’s door.

 

                With the help of the response team Winston climbs out of the wrecked vehicle. He sets his own two feet on the ground, standing up straight and giving a wave to the crowds.

 

                The paddock breaths a sigh of relief.

                “Incredibly fortunately Sussex appears to emerge unharmed!” Alaina commentates over the live feed.

                The live feed continues to show the scene of the crash with Winston being escorted into the back of the ambulance.

                “Miraculous indeed. Even so, he’ll need to be taken to the medical center to be checked out for any concussion symptoms.” Daniil says

                The live feed shows a replay of the wreck from different camera angles.

                “Goodness that was a violent crash.” Alaina says, hand covering her mouth.

 

                “There are still a few minutes left of the session, but with the red flag, its safe to call it over.” Daniil says over footage of a crane gantry lifting the wrecked car into the air by its roll cage. Loose pieces fall from the vehicle’s carcass as it jostles around.

                “Don’t go anywhere because in approximately 1 hour we’ll have what will no doubt be an eventful qualifying session!” Alaina signs off.

 

                Anni turns, walking away from the race stream. She leans her back against a garage wall and slowly slides down, landing butt first on the floor. She gently sets her helmet to her side and lets out a deep sigh. She thinks back to incident, Winston’s car flipping end over end in front of her.

                “I should have pulled over to see if he was alright” she thinks to herself.

                She rapidly shakes her head as if trying to erase the thought like an etch-n-sketch.

                “The hell am I talking about? He tried to put me in the wall earlier, like more than once. He got what he deserved!”  She thinks.

                “Still! It would’ve been the right thing to do!” She thinks smacking both hands against her cheeks like trying to wake herself up to reality. The guilt clearly shows through in her eyes.

 

                From a distance, other drivers walking by outside the paddock garage only see Anni in fetal position against the wall alternating between shaking her head like a maniac and smacking herself. Their facial expressions give away that they’re ranging from slightly concerned to weirded out.

                “Best not to think about it. I’m stressing myself out.” Anni thinks to herself, leaning her head back against the wall. She lets her left leg slide down, outstretched along the floor. Her heavy eyelids sink to a close and she begins to doze off where she sits.

 

 

                She dreams of a different race at a different track from a different time. Down the long main straight of the infamous Nurburgring Nordschliefe, two sleek LMP cars are barreling down the track at incredible speed. 300kph and climbing on the dashboard. Of he two cars, one is in the lead, followed closely behind by the other in its slipstream. Gaining.

                The bumps of the track surface at such a speed rattle the components of the rear suspension to their core. One part is moving with more compliance than the others, flexing back and forth under the heavy loads.

                Nearing the end of the straightaway the following car is poised to make his move. He swoops out of the slipstream alongside the lead car. They’re wheel to wheel as the former lead car tries to squeeze the other car to the side to defend his position. 335kph.

The car being squeezed accidentally dips a tire off the pavement and into the grass. The rear right wheel hits a large uneven patch of earth, sending massive forces into the suspension system. The compliant linkage severs with a snap, untethering the wheel. The whole car spins toward wall violently and without warning to the driver. 340kph. The driver’s eyes widen beneath his helmet.

In the pitlane garages, a young girl stands alone holding a stuffed animal. Her eyes are obscured in shadow. In front of her is a television screen displaying the race live. Currently on screen is the mangled remains of a vehicle surrounded by medical and fire personnel. The first responders hide the full extent of the wreckage and the driver’s condition from view with a large tarp.

The girl stands motionless. Her stuffed animal falls to the floor. Along with it, thick tear-drop like rain.

 

 

Anni jolts awake, recoiling to her left away from a wet sensation in her right here. The culprit standing before her is Reina, her wet-willy finger still outstretched. Anni clutches her right ear while making a disgusted face.

“Qualifying’s about to start sleepyhead!” Raina taunts while playfully tossing Anni her helmet.

Anni clumsily catches the helmet and slips it on her head while scrambling to her feet.

“Don’t think I won’t get you back for that!” Anni calls out to the now departing Reina, her back turned to Anni.

“Yeah, yeah, if you have something to say, say it on the track!” Reina replies smiling back at Anni over her shoulder.

 

Back along the pitlane road Anni climbs into her car and straps herself into the harness. The pit crew chief assigned to her comes along to her driver side door. He hands her a tablet densely packed with stats and figures.

“Here’s what the car’s setup looks like right now. Pretty sure you were the only one not to change anything during practice. You want us to tweak anything before sending you out there?” the pit chief says to her.

Anni holds the tablet in her hand, swiping through the different options.

“Okay, camber angle, toe angle, tire pressure, I know about those.” She thinks to herself starting intently at the screen.

“What the hell? Damping? Spring rates? How the hell am I supposed to know how those will affect the car?” She thinks, squinting at the tablet as if that will help her understand.

 

 The pit chief is looking a tad impatient. He seems to have caught on that Anni doesn’t know what to do.

“So what’s it going to be?” He says raising an eyebrow.

“Uhhh. More… camber?” She says, handing back the tablet.

“Alright front or rear?” He asks back, taking notes in a small pocketbook.

“…Both” Anni says, wavering.

The pit chief stops and eyes her for a second before looking back down and writing in his pocketbook.

“Okay, how much are we talking?”

“10 degrees.” Anni blurts out.

 

This stops the pit chief in his tracks. He immediately looks back up at her like she’s stupid.

“Let me get this straight, you want 10 degrees of camber. On all four wheels?” He repeats back with an accusatory tone while pinching the bridge of his nose.

Anni, flustered at being caught in her bullshit, turns away from the pit chief and covers her face with her hands.

“Forget it! I changed my mind just send me out!” She says, facing away from the chief, her face beet red.

 “Alright, you’re the boss!” the pit chief says, raising his hands in the air and stepping away from the vehicle.

 

At Reina’s spot along the pit lane, Reina is strapped into her car ready and waiting. Her pit chief approaches her window in a similar fashion to Anni’s. He hands her a tablet with updated setup data.

“Here ya go miss all finished. Camber’s at -3.5 front -2 rear, fuel’s at 6 liters, everything else unchanged.” The pit chief says while adjusting his hat.

Reina looks over the numbers carefully before handing back the tablet.

“Looks good, send me out there.” She says.

The pit chief nods. He steps back from the car and raises his right hand in the air, circling it above his head. The pit crew reads his signal and lowers the car from the jacks holding it up. All the personnel clear out from around Reina’s car in preparation for her release.

Simultaneously at Anni’s paddock, her pit crew gives her the go-ahead. Anni and Reina both throw their respective cars in gear and peel out into the pitlane. Both have a certain intensity painted across their expressions.

 

“No room for mistakes. Its go time.” The two girls think to themselves as they exit the pit lane onto the track, throttling their cars ahead at full speed.

[To be continued]

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Jeb voice*: Please clap


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